


extra cinnamon

by diabolical_spaghetti



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Alternate Universe - College/University, Awkward Crush, Awkward Flirting, Awkwardness, Baristas, Cinnamon Roll Yamaguchi Tadashi, Coffee Shops, Cuddling & Snuggling, Cute Yamaguchi Tadashi, First Dates, Fluff, Kuroo Tetsurou is a Good Friend, M/M, Slow Burn, Study Date, Tsukishima Kei Being an Asshole, Tsukishima Kei is Bad at Feelings, Tsukishima Kei/Yamaguchi Tadashi Fluff, Yamaguchi Tadashi's Freckles, anthropology student tsukishima, art student yamaguchi, barista yamaguchi, music nerd tsukishima, tsukishima doesn't know how to ask someone out, tsukishima loves chai tea, yamaguchi works at a coffee shop
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-11
Updated: 2021-02-11
Packaged: 2021-03-17 08:33:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,729
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29347455
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/diabolical_spaghetti/pseuds/diabolical_spaghetti
Summary: Kei develops both a caffeine addiction and a crush on the cute freckled boy who works at his favorite coffee shop.
Relationships: Koganegawa Kanji & Kyoutani Kentarou & Tsukishima Kei, Kuroo Tetsurou & Tsukishima Kei, Tsukishima Kei/Yamaguchi Tadashi
Kudos: 41





	extra cinnamon

**Author's Note:**

> Hi everyone! This is my first fanfic and I am really excited to put some more Tsukiyama content in the Haikyuu tag! I hope you like it. :)

This morning, Kei wakes up completely exhausted from his studying the night before; it definitely does not pair well with the massive headache he has developed while listening to Kogane and Kyotani argue about whose turn it is to take out the trash. Spoiler alert: it is Kogane’s. They have a chore chart for a reason, though most of the time Kei is the one who follows it.

He figures he should combat his headache with a bit of caffeine, but their coffee machine has been acting a bit strange lately, making sputtering sounds here and there when they use it. Kei is pretty sure it’s broken. Kogane had tried to make hot cocoa with it last week, despite Kei’s discouragement. For some reason, he thought putting chocolate bars in there to melt along with the boiling milk would be a good idea, resulting in an explosion of melted chocolate coming out of the bottom of the machine and two pissed off roommates.

Because of this, Kei figures it would be best to go on a run to the cafe by their apartment before class. Dragging himself out of bed, he gets dressed for class while he continues to listen to his roommates argue.

“Kogane, you are seriously pissing me off right now. It clearly says your name right there under Tuesday. Stop being an idiot, and just do your part. Now let me eat my breakfast in peace.”

“I swear to god that I took the trash out just a few days ago! You’re really gonna make me do it...again?” Kogane counters in a whiny tone.

“Oi! Would you guys shut up? It’s seven in the morning.” Kei shouts to them from his room as he puts his laptop and books in his bag. “Besides, Kogane, you haven’t done anything for weeks. I had no idea you were this much of a slob.”

Kei hears Kogane huff in annoyance and the sound of a trash bag dragging along the tile floor. He rolls his eyes, getting kind of tired of both Kogane and his worsening headache.

He finishes getting his things together, putting his headphones on, and starting up a playlist he made a few days ago based on a few recommendations from Kuroo. Though he would never ever admit this to Kuroo, he actually really liked some of the artists on it, occasionally catching himself humming some of the songs while doing homework.

Leaving the apartment with a short goodbye to his roommates, he notices how cold it is outside, glad he decided to put on his sweater and scarf. Light layers of snow have sprinkled the streets of his neighborhood with trees covered in white poking out from behind the buildings he walks past.

A few kids building a snowman in their front yard make Kei think of how much he loves the winter in Sendai City. There were always fewer people out than other times of the year, which causes his walks around the city to be much quieter than usual. Sometimes, the hustle and bustle of the Miyagi capital made him really miss home. _The snow probably looks beautiful there right now,_ Kei thinks, remembering the days he would play in it with his brother and throw snowballs around like they were in the middle of battle.

He wonders to himself what Akiteru is up to, typing a text message to him; it had been a week or so since they had last spoken. He’s probably busy working or spending time with his new girlfriend. Kei’s forgotten her name already.

After a few minutes of walking, he finally arrives at the coffee shop. Cafe Hokori is a small, modest building on the corner of the street closest to his university’s library. He has been going there ever since he moved in with Kyotani and Kogane. It is an endearing place that Kei loves to go to study or to escape his roommates.

Looking up at the signs and posters on the glass door in front of him, he notices a large “Now Hiring” sign. _Good,_ he thinks to himself. He is tired of seeing the same faces there every time he comes, especially that kid, Haruma. With his constant smiling and happy-go-lucky attitude, he often puts Kei, who barely tolerates overly positive people, in a sour mood. No matter how hard he tries, he cannot imagine being that happy about working at a coffee shop…or _anything else_ for that matter.

As Kei imagines what his life would be like as a grumpy barista, he opens the door to the cafe. Walking inside, he looks over the menu, carefully considering what he wants to try today. _Something sweeter than usual,_ he thinks, suddenly craving cinnamon.

Turning off Kuroo’s playlist and putting his headphones around his neck, all of a sudden, he feels something hit hard against his side and right arm, shoving him to the left. Wincing, he stumbles to the side and grabs his arm, looking around to whoever had just run into him, preparing to curse at them for being so careless. _I am definitely not in the mood for this right now._

“What the hell-” Kei starts but pauses to examine the situation.

He sees a boy with long brown hair sprawled out on the floor next to him, an apron in hand and a blue backpack next to him, books and pens falling out of it. His wide eyes and panicked look causes Kei to stop for a second as he opens his mouth to chastise him.

“Watch where you’re going,” Kei mutters to the boy in annoyance, glaring as he looks down at him. “You could’ve hurt someone.”

 _Well, he_ did _hurt me._ Kei massages his side, attempting to ease its soreness. _That’s definitely going to bruise._

The boy looks up at Kei, his stressed eyes quickly shifting to apologetic ones as he tosses everything he dropped back into his bag, his face as red as a strawberry. “I am so sorry! I was in such a hurry and I didn’t see you there.” 

Standing up, he dusts himself off and sighs. Kei watches the boy as his eyes widen once more, sprinting to the area behind the coffee counter, seemingly in a hurry, opening the door to the backroom, and disappearing.

 _He must be a new hire or something_ _,_ Kei thinks.

A bit peeved from the carelessness that just took place, he walks up to the boy he is accustomed to seeing at the cash register.

“Hi, Haruma…” Kei avoids looking into the boy’s eyes. He has shaggy black hair, blue eyes, and, as always, a huge smile on his face. If Kei looks at it too long it might make his headache worse.

“Hey Kei!” Haruma exclaims in an overly enthusiastic tone and grins at him. “How is your chemistry class going?”

Kei recollects a few weeks ago when Haruma was cleaning a table next to him as he was studying, refusing to leave him alone. All it took was one glance at Kei’s chemistry textbook for him to go on a long rant about the chemistry of coffee, despite Kei’s obvious disinterest. _Who goes to coffee shops for meaningless lectures, anyways?_

He ignores the barista’s question. “Could I get a-” he begins to ask before being interrupted, once again, by the boy who ran into him earlier.

Running out shouting to the back room while the door is open, he ties his apron around his waist, “I’m sorry again! My power went out and my alarm didn’t go off! This will not happen again, ma’am. I promise!”

Haruma looks at the boy and smiles even wider. Kei somehow becomes even more annoyed by this.

“Yamaguchi! Glad to see you here today. I was wondering where you were,” Haruma laughs to himself. “Anyways, I think I am about to go on break, so could you take Kei’s order for me?” He motions to the unamused blonde boy in front of him.

The boy, who Kei now understands to be Yamaguchi, glances and softly smiles at him. Haruma pats Yamaguchi on the back and walks into the back room.

“Hi again...” Yamaguchi nervously says. “Sorry about that. I was running late and obviously was not paying attention to my surroundings.” His smile softens as he looks at Kei. It is definitely not as obnoxious as Haruma’s.

Kei stares past Yamaguchi at the menu behind him. “Obviously.”

Yamaguchi frowns. “What can I get for you?”

“I’ll take a medium chai latte with extra cinnamon on top,” Kei says as he finally takes a better look at the boy’s face.

Yamaguchi has freckles. A lot of freckles. They’re scattered all over his cheeks and nose, some way darker than the others. His long brown hair frames his face, falling down the sides, with a cowlick sticking up a bit in the center of his head. Kei thinks it looks a bit ridiculous, wondering to himself if he has any weird cowlicks poking out. He fixes his hair a bit as Yamaguchi types a few things onto the monitor in front of him.

He smiles at Kei once more. “That’ll be four hundred yen.”

Kei exchanges the money, and Yamaguchi stuffs it into the register.

“I’ll go ahead and make that for you,” he looks up at Kei and slightly blushes. Something about him makes Kei glad that there is a fresh face around here. _He doesn’t seem as obnoxious as Haruma._

He watches the boy stumble around, getting the drink ready for him. He drops something on the ground and mutters something to himself, his face turning bright red. This amuses Kei for a second, before he remembers the incident from earlier, rubbing his arm where it is sore.

“H-here you go,” Yamaguchi stutters as he sets the drink down on the bar next to Kei, and Kei grabs the drink.

He nods at Yamaguchi, turning around to walk out of the door.

“Sorry about earlier...I hope to see you again!” Kei hears him say as the door closes behind him.

Irritated by the new barista’s statement, he starts to sip his chai latte and head to class, reflecting on the fact that before this morning, he has never really noticed someone’s freckles that closely...nor has anyone put the perfect amount of ‘extra cinnamon’ in his drink.


End file.
